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Synod Letter on Easter (fragment)

Written about 190 to 195, perhaps in Caesarea Maritima (now Caesarea, Israel). The date is the usual view of scholars; some doubt it.

A few lines of the letter of the bishops of Palestine on the date of Easter, kept by Eusebius.

Letter · first written in Greek

Translated by B. P. Pratten (1886). Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 8 (1886), Remains of the Second and Third Centuries; first issued in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library (Edinburgh, 1867-1873) Public domain. Source and rights

How we know the date and place
Date written probable
Eusebius, Church History 5.23 and 5.25: from the synod of Palestine in the Easter dispute under Victor of Rome, about 190-195
Place written not sure
Eusebius, Church History 5.23.3: Theophilus of Caesarea and Narcissus of Jerusalem led the synod; Eusebius says "in Palestine" and does not name the town

298 words. 1 section.

Synod Letter on Easter (fragment)

§ 1

Theophilus, Bishop of Cæsarea in Palestine.

[a.d. 180.] When Eusebius says that the churches of "all Asia" concurred in the Ephesine use concerning the Paschal, he evidently means Asia Minor, as in the Scriptures and elsewhere.3784 Throughout "the rest of the world," he testifies, however, that such was not the use. The Palestinian bishops, after the Jewish downfall, seem to have been the first to comprehend the propriety of adopting the more Catholic usage; and our author presided over a council in Cæsarea, of which he was bishop, assisted by Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, with Cassius of Tyre and Clarus of Ptolemais, which confirmed it. It is to be noted, that Alexandria is cited by Theophilus as authority for this custom; and it is not quite correct to say that the Western usage prevailed at Nicæa, for it was the general use, save only in Asia Minor and churches which were colonies of the same. This fact has been overlooked, and is very important, in history.

From His Epistle on the Question of the Passover, Written in the Name of the Synod of Cæsarea.3785

Endeavour also to send abroad copies of our epistle among all the churches, so that those who easily deceive their own souls may not be able to lay the blame on us. We would have you know, too, that in Alexandria3786 also they observe the festival on the same day as ourselves. For the Paschal letters are sent from us to them, and from them to us: so that we observe the holy day in unison and together.

3 notes
  1. 3784 See (Polycrates) p. 773, supra, and Eusebius, H. E., book v. cap. xxiii., etc., pp. 222-226.
  2. 3785 In Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 25.
  3. 3786 [Note, the authority of Alexandria is quoted, not that of Rome.]